TORY demands for the publication of an internal inquiry by a Government department into the affairs of suspended Coventry Labour MP Geoffrey Robinson were rejected today.

Andrew MacKay (C Bracknell) said publication of the 1999 Department for Trade and Industry report was "essential" to explain why no action was taken against Mr Robinson at that time.

The same demand was made in the Commons on Wednesday by David Heathcoat-Amory (C Wells) when Mr Robinson, MP for Coventry North-west, was suspended for three weeks for "inadvertently" misleading an inquiry by a Westminster sleaze watchdog into his business affairs.

During exchanges on forthcoming parliamentary business, Mr MacKay demanded a statement by Trade and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt into the matter.

He said: "That report ... refers to the affairs of Geoffrey Robinson, Hollis Industries and related Maxwell companies. It is absolutely essential that that report is published and the Secretary of State explains to the House why her predecessor (Stephen Byers) did not proceed with further inquiries bearing in mind what that report was alleged to have said."

Leader of the Commons, Robin Cook, ruled out a statement, replying: "Section 447 of the Companies Act was drafted by the Conservatives when they were in office. It explicitly provides that the material provided in the course of an inquiry will remain confidential.

"Stephen Byers never saw that report, he was informed of the results of that report and there it rests."